Never argue with a foodist
One never wins

The pantry that’s now empty
The larder not refilled
Refrigeration required
After opening yet unfulfilled

Shopping the supermarket
A grand prix of rolling carts
The mounds of provisions
That overflows human hearts

Never-ending virtues
Of foodist inspiration
The lovely contemplation
Of meals that ever last

6/6/19

www.brucelevine.com
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You and I will have our dreams together
See the world as pink and green together
Knowing that we’ll always be together
Feel the morning, rise upon us
Hold the feeling, all wet with dew.

You and I will spend our days together
Moving right on through the maze together
Playing games and making plays together
Happy endings, ever after
Like a story, we’ll spend our lives.

With time for holding you
And time for loving you
We’ll make our dreams come true
You and I.


Originally used as a song lyric in the show Marriage and Other Happenings in 1983

Tom Turtle ran a race
He’d never lost before
But in the name of love
Came from above
Joe Rabbit beat his score

Tom was glad
This time not sad
True love had won the day
And though he lost
A race it cost
He gladly had his say

This time Joe
You weren’t a foe
The message is loud and clear
Two lovers brought
From Heaven taught
To hold each other dear

And from that day
They’d laugh and play
A perfect atmosphere
For love to thrive
Each day alive
It wasn’t a show
And on they’d go
Forever aglow
With happiness every day
And joyously they did say

Thanks Tom Turtle
You lost the race
But through your grace
Love can erase
The sadness you must face

Tom Turtle replied
I am alive
I’d happily lose ten more
For love like yours
Means more than scores
So go on your merry way

And live your life
Free from strife
And here’s to you both
I raise a toast
To love and laugh each day

You have each other
I’ll soon recover
You’ve opened the door
There needs no more
You’ll now discover
Destiny brought you ashore
You’re both in love
From Heaven above
For now and forever more

Half way to the stars
Finding true love forever
Golden days ahead

The Greatest Love Of All

Thursday, February 14, 2019 | Filed under Bruce Levine

Contributor: Bruce Levine

- -
Here’s to a breakfast appetizer
The start of another day
Waking to the loved one
Brought from miles away

The longing we thought would last forever
Is gone with a single kiss
That brings the joys of a lifetime
Filled with days of bliss

The golden days of every day
The passion we’ll always feel
A love that will last forever
And ever because it’s real

Simple joys like holding hands
Or walking in the snow
Mem’ries in the making
To last as long as we’ll know

Happy times through summer
Winter, spring and fall
Gathering momentum through the years
The greatest love of all

http://www.leaves-of-ink.com/2019/02/the-greatest-love-of-all.html

www.brucelevine.com

hidden dreams of glory
soaring over trees
flocks of birds on an august morn

Late last night
As I was walking my dog
We saw three deer
Munching away

We stopped to watch
And they watched us
And must have decided
That we’re okay

I will admit
I’m still not used
To deer so near
Who have no fear
And make it clear
They’re going to stay

Who munch and watch
People go by
And wait for
Another day

Follow the dream
no matter where it leads
as dreams have their
own direction
and their
own destiny

6/6/19

www.brucelevine.com
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07485W4Q1

The narcissism of today
Makes Narcissus
Look like a fraud
Selfies to commemorate
The slightest triumph
Like combing one’s hair
Meeting a friend
A celebrity, a sycophant
Another narcissist
And because the human arm
Doesn’t reach like a giraffe’s neck
The selfie stick was invented
To capture every golden moment
Of the Narcissist’s life
Cooking breakfast
Is an event worthy of self-praise
And transcendence for posterity
On Facebook
Self-esteem no longer comes from within
From accomplishments
From goals conquered
But from a cell phone
Held at arm’s or stick’s length
Pointed at one’s own image
Like Narcissus at the pool
Gazing at himself
Until he died

The day languished before them,
as if suspended in time,
choosing a course
and yet not choosing,
but rather letting the course choose them
without care
because freedom
and abandonment to choose
presented itself
in its own inexplicable way
and their free will
became incapable
of deciding.

I write two kinds of stories –
Happy endings or killing people –
I guess I’m happy killing people

2/27/19
www.brucelevine.com

An ordinary cold is a hateful thing
With sneezes and wheezes and coughing that bring
Tremulous moments while holding one’s breath
Trying to stave off once more a feeling of death.

The mornings of glory no longer abound
The nights filled with snoring, a ghastly old sound.
With days hard to get through and work gone askew
While others are playing or getting their due.

No more feeling happy, no more feeling sad
There’s only the feeling of just feeling bad
And hope of recov’ry that once seemed so near
Is lost like a mem’ry and moments of fear.

As days filled with sneezing and wheezing move on
And glimmers of hope that this cold will be gone
For sooner or later there must be a day
When the ordinary cold has outlived its stay.

Frozen in time
The sweet embers of a charcoal fire
Linger in the mist of the day
Hovering in the air
Holding fast
While clouds float over the horizon
Making their way in a journey of the unknown
And caterpillars parade across wet grass
Marching to a tune unheard and unsung
And yet pervasive
In the momentum of the illusionary
The myths and legends wrapped in pink ribbons
And fairy tales come to life
In the land of their own making

5/14/19

Love is the essence of being
The ultimate companion
The harbinger of life
Tracing patterns without shadows
Through the threshold of eternity
An elixir of time
Held in a dew-drop
Amid the molecules of the ocean
Suspended like crystalline rain
Fulfilled by cohesion like atoms
Rotating in unison
With breathtaking speed
And yet individual though indivisible
Patterns of a double helix
United forever in perpetual spring
Like a robin’s song
A glorious melody
Sung over and over again
The perfection of harmony
One perfect refrain

5/10/19

The late afternoon
Changes the mood of the day
A cooling breeze
Erases the oppressive heat of the morning
A crystal blue sky
Without a single cloud
A tiny plane slips suddenly
Onto the horizon
Where it’s going – unknown
I watch my dog
As she stretches out on the grass
In the dog park that she truly believes is hers
And hers alone
She rolls and lays her head
In the softness
Smelling the sweat scent of the lawn
All of this I realize
From a bench nearby
I too have lain in the grass with her
On other days
Watching clouds changing shapes
And making formations
In the quietness
Broken only by birds
Momentarily talking to each other
And the swaying trees
The only movement
Intruding on the stillness
Of the late afternoon
Before the sun sets
And brings the night
Making way for a new dawn
Unpredictable
Yet with the hope
Of another late afternoon
Like today

I looked in my closet
And discovered
That I went back to
Who I am

I tried being what I
Thought I should be
Wanted to be
I changed my wardrobe
I changed my hair
I thought I looked
The part
But playing a part
Doesn’t mean it’s real
Reality
True to oneself

Oxford shirts and jeans
And haircuts may not
Make the man
But they go a long way
Toward going back to
Who I am

I write two kinds of stories –
Happy endings or killing people –
I guess I’m happy killing people

2/27/19
www.brucelevine.com

The momentum of today
Overcomes the lassitude of yesterday
Bringing forth a new entry
In the rhythm of life
Fixed on the timeless energy
Of tomorrow’s renewal
The glories of future expressions
Sustained by the powers of the mind
Inaugurated by passion
Fulfilled by love

5/4/19

Heaven remembers
The fortitude
Wrought in time
That outlasts infinity
And gives strength
Through the simplest emotions
Guiding the pathways
Through forests primeval
Or oceans outlasting
The desert refined
By sand dunes of mem’ries
To hold and remember
Uncertain of context
But travel in light-years
And journeys forgotten
Remembered
Defined
By new journeys taken
And new hope abounding
The future forgiving
New moments sublime

2/21/19

www.brucelevine.com

My life is a wire
Forced upon me
Not by choice
Not by desire
But by obsolescence
Of former technology
No longer viable
No longer available
And yet it too
Had its own lifespan
Before the next technological epiphany
Superseded it –
Out with the old – in with the new
Armageddon

And is my life better?
Categorically no!

Simple became complex
Reliable became subject
To the whims of technology
The internet’s slow today
The program’s out of date
The compatibility declined
The system’s down
Functionality at a standstill
Armageddon

Go wireless
Go Bluetooth
Go further down
The layers of Hell
The layers of the Inferno
The labyrinth
Of keeping up
With the newest of the new
Keeping up with the Joneses
No longer humans
Keeping up with Microsoft or Apple

Pre-order
Post-order
Out of order

Spending money
On the gift that keeps giving
In the name of technology
The rich get richer
And everyone else poorer
Waiting in line
Camping on the sidewalk
All for the gadgets
All for the glory
Of holding the latest update

As I suffer
Their hypocrisy
Their purported need
To make the world better
Faster
Easier
Save the trees
Repair climate change
More and more technology
Force it on us
Like the slaves
Forced on the ships
Out of Africa

No more human interaction
Text me…
No more time
Social media…
Games
Addiction to technology
Armageddon

Snowflakes falling on frozen tree limbs
Festooned now with red and gold
Candy canes like peppermint soldiers
Help to guard the young and old
Silver bells and colored bright lights
Helping merry times unfold
Santa’s elves bring yuletide magic
Telling stories twice retold

Cinnamon sticks to stir hot chocolate
Tonics to fill our hearts with cheer
Holiday magic to brighten the morning
Santa’s sleigh with all nine reindeer
Cakes and cookies filling baskets
Ice cream snowmen travel near
Happy mem’ries of childhood fancies
Lighten hearts throughout the year

Prisms of light
Scatter the sky
With bands of color
Emulating bands of truth

Fortunes resounding
In echoes of canyons
Carved with a chisel
Of serpentine greed

A rainbow reminder
Wrapped ‘round a finger
Promising forever
A holier time

As Pharaohs remind us
With iconographic splendor
And timeless emotions
Unravel and unwind

When fate reaches skyward
Unleashing its power
Breaking the rainbow
Into splinters of light

No longer a highway
That seemed like forever
The week we remember
Destroyed with a dream

4/3/19


www.brucelevine.com
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Traveling through life
Is an open-ended journey
Of picture post-cards
Hung on a wall

Memories hold souvenirs
Of long forgotten triumphs
And photos remind us
On a four by six card

Passions forever
Encased in a moment
Hold the future together
As the road travels on

And bumps on the highway
Are simply distractions
Resolved at the next
Scenic over-look ahead

Take hold of tomorrow
And only look forward
A lifetime is out there
New post-cards to send

5/9/19

They were waiting for the train

Not a word had been spoken

And yet they knew there was significance to their waiting

Circumstances had placed them here as much as led them on

It was their future, their hopes, their dreams, their everything

The train would take them home

5/3/19

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Alone again
Dreams keep
Coming to an end
Unfulfilled promises
Thrown away
With a kiss
Sorrow reignited
Passion extinguished
Forever forgotten
In the blink of an eye
A lifetime of hopes
And dreams
Piled in a funeral pyre
Longing overtaking
A dismembered corpse
As the tangible
Artifacts remain
A constant reminder
Of a second broken heart
Unsung and unheralded
Commitments forsaken
The grand scheme
That appeared perfection
Gone and only the dust
Of another cremation
Of the soul
Remaining forever

1/25/19

Dedicated to those
Who believe their own hyperbole
Rounding the edges with sandpaper
Emery boards of diamond dust
Redefining borders
Ignoring innate apprehensions of history
For the sake of their own place
In the sand-drifts of destiny
As Armageddon draws a line
Encampments of the disenfranchised
Awaiting the proximity of fate
Riding on the hyperbole of others

5/21/19
www.brucelevine.com
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Here we are together
Holding on to each other
Intertwined
In the union of love
Sharing not only our bodies
But our hearts and souls
Inextricably mingled
Like a force of nature
Naked and yet clothed
In a garment
Woven in Heaven
Only available when
Two hearts equal one
Mathematics discounted
Only the reality
Of our joining as lovers
Fulfilled by our passion
Which can only be
Overwhelmed
By our love

Wild geese on the wing
Chasing shadows at ev’ning
Forming flocks in flight

Here’s to a breakfast appetizer
The start of another day
Waking to the loved one
Brought from miles away

The longing we thought would last forever
Is gone with a single kiss
That brings the joys of a lifetime
Filled with days of bliss

The golden days of every day
The passion we’ll always feel
A love that will last forever
And ever because it’s real

Simple joys like holding hands
Or walking in the snow
Mem’ries in the making
To last as long as we’ll know

Happy times through summer
Winter, spring and fall
Gathering momentum through the years
The greatest love of all

10/7/18

I walk the dog
I read
I watch the wind
Blow the branches
Of the trees
Under a gray sky
That threatens rain
The torrential rain
Here last night
Gone today
But for the threat
Of more
The day begins
Time passes
I watch
I wait
For rain
To cleanse the air
To shift the shadows
Of clouds
Darkened with water
Waiting
To empty their burden
Darkness pervades
Plans change
Empty hours
Of waiting
Umbrellas furled
Leaves drip
From the canopy
Of trees
Remnants of rain
Past
Droplets of water
No longer suspended
Like time
Bent
To conform
To the new
Reality
Holding the moment
With mist
That turns
To rain

The temperature dropped
But the warmth of the sun fills the room
Like love fills the heart

New tomorrows
Sprinkled with uncertainty
Hopeful yet unknowing
Born of some spectral happenstance
That unites souls
Without knowing when or how
Looking in the mirror of time
And seeing infinity
Holding hands at the crossroads
Without questioning which way to go
Knowing the path to follow
Uncertainty gone in a tornado
Swirling in the core
Opening new vistas
And new tomorrows

Lovers parting
Their hearts unfulfilled
Fending off the heartbreak
That should never have been
A heart stilled

Looking through the window
Of twenty years or more
Wondering how it happened
The days gone by
And washed ashore

To live on a deserted island
As emptiness abounds
No matter where the island
With or without people
Loneliness surrounds

All too many islands
In fantasy or real
To the lovers parted
Their hearts remaining still
Too empty now to feel

Late afternoon
A gentle breeze
The trees a full rich green
On the cusp of summer

The sky’s a perfect sky-blue
With wisps of clouds
Barely visible
Transparent
Like cigarette smoke
In a film noir
Slowly drifting across the tapestry

The sun
Just before it sets
Bright, with that extra glow
Of eventide
Showering the tops of the trees
In a halo of shimmering light

A perfect time to be lazy
Reclining in a comfortable chair
Daisy, my dog, watching her world
Then drifting off happily
With drooping eyes to nap

A busy day
Slowly ending
With golden moments
Before ev’ning shadows
Envelop the day
And gentle breezes
Drift into night

Filling the void
Of eternal dissolution
Evading the cavity
Of human dislocation

A parody of civilization
In a hand-held box
Glorifying nothing
The emptiness thereof

A synapse shorted
A circuit-breaker broken
A complex evolution
Darwin rebuffed

The feeling of being empty
A faux examination
Of priorities forsaken
A glass that never fills

A new intoxication
Escape to points unknown
External manifestations
Legacies regressed

Impossible to ponder
The brink of new extinction
The void that’s overtaking
The void that now exists

6/6/19

My hatred increases
In geometric progression
To my daily existence

11/29/18

Reality forsaken
For a chance at the golden ring
And though it’s only made of brass
A chance to grab it still could bring

Dreams of glory yet remain
Waiting on the shelf
For father time to come along
To turn them into wealth

And so our good friend harkens
And listens for the call
Remembering dreams of glory
Before a mighty fall

And time alone can put aside
The fears of remaining true
Refusing to abjure the dreams
Or asking where or who

Can take a chance again each day
Looking to the goal
For brass or gold it’s still a ring
A circle with a hole

(For My WIFE)

Home can be
Anywhere
Any place
Any town or
City
Any size or
Shape
A palace
Or a two room
Flat
Home isn’t
Four walls
A kitchen
And a bath
Home only
Exists
When it is
Filled with
Love
Filled with
Life
And
Laughter
A haven where
Warmth and safety
Prevails
Where storms and
Pestilence
Can’t reach
Home is where
Simple things
Are important
And big things
Are taken in stride
Home is when
Two
Defies mathematics
Where two hearts
And two souls
Become
One
Home is where
Love can
Flourish
And sadness is
Banished
Home is an
Intangible
That defies
Definition
Except by those
Who
Feel alive
Because they are
Home
Where anything
And everything
Can happen
Dreams can come
True
And life is
Joyous
Simply because
There is
A place called
Home

10/3/18

When love
Transcends time, distance and space
And takes hold of two people
Brought together by destiny and fate
The universe is renewed

Golden threads
Stitch the planets into a ring
And Saturn gives up its rings
As baguettes to surround the diamond
That once was the sun

And then
The moons and the stars
Shine down on the love
Like a rainbow of light
Catching moonbeams in its path
In a spiral of sparkles
Like fireworks on the Fourth of July

When love
Is so strong that it can
Overcome all obstacles
And join two people
Like an umbilical chord
Gives life to a baby
And each
Nurtures the other
With their hearts and their souls
As love unites them
For eternity

When love
Is so strong that the past disappears
And only the future remains
To be seen among the stars and the planets
In a universe of their own

The stealthy stalking of bees
Happens each year in the spring
When flowers grow under the trees
And song birds are starting to sing

The pollen that’s turned into honey
Bears fruit for the people we know
But bees think it’s just pretty funny
To put on a song and dance show

When Daisy the dog sees a field
Of flowers that bloom in the spring
She stealthily stalks bees for breakfast
And gobbles them down without a sting

I wonder how Daisy does do it
She swallows them whole one and all
The bees keep working unnoticed
While Daisy devours them all

2/22/19

www.brucelevine.com

Half way to nowhere
Becoming who you are
Tides of time forever

I sit on the porch
Watching the moon and the stars
Holding hands with God

Here’s to a breakfast appetizer
The start of another day
Waking to the loved one
Brought from miles away

The longing we thought would last forever
Is gone with a single kiss
That brings the joys of a lifetime
Filled with days of bliss

The golden days of every day
The passion we’ll always feel
A love that will last forever
And ever because it’s real

Simple joys like holding hands
Or walking in the snow
Mem’ries in the making
To last as long as we’ll know

Happy times through summer
Winter, spring and fall
Gathering momentum through the years
The greatest love of all

10/7/18

www.brucelevine.com

Love is special – unique
Something that can’t be
Bought in a store
Or on-line
Love can’t be found
Just because you’re
Looking for it
Love finds you
Sometimes through
Incomprehensible means
Love is destiny
Founded by two souls
Meeting in Heaven
And molded into one
As the angels
Return it to the
Original owners
But it’s
A new life
Because love
Has joined the beings
Forever as one

I awoke several times last night
And looked for you on the
Pillow next to me
In my mind’s eye I saw you lying there
Your hair billowing around
Your beautiful face
Your breathing slow and gentle
The breathing of the content
Knowing of our love for each other
Feeling your presence
As I fell back asleep

I trace the hours
Then the minutes
Waiting seems forever
Golden seconds
Moving softly
Like your breath
From far away
Soon my Darling
Home together
Never more away
Loving heartbeats
Clocks chiming
Measuring the miles
That never should have been
From the moment
Joined together
Eternity now alive
Sharing love and caring
Now that fate has set the day
Forever remember
Our love has found
A joyous entry
In the book of forever more
Happy ending
‘Round the corner
Love and hope in store
Love forever
Safe and warm now
Home, let’s close the door
On turmoil and strife
Tomorrow in the past
Husband and Wife
One true love
To fill our lives
‘Til eternity and a day
Holding fast
The hours will pass
Fate has set the day

Counting the days
‘Til our new life begins
Waiting and watching
The calendar
Ticking off numbers
Hours and minutes
Until you arrive
Holding my breath
Until your kiss
Breaks the spell
Longing and wanting
Each other from afar
Love crossing oceans
Our bodies tingling
For each other’s touch
The moment of passion
Fulfilled by our hearts
Beating as one
And making new mem’ries
To last through the years
Perfection together
Outlasting all time
A marriage made in Heaven
Blessed by eternity
To love and to hold
In friendship, as lovers
Companions forever
Strengthened each day
With each kiss
With each hug
Our love remains constant
Two hearts now as one

I trace the hours
Then the minutes
Waiting seems forever
Golden seconds
Moving softly
Like your breath
From far away
Soon my Darling
Home together
Never more away
Loving heartbeats
Clocks chiming
Measuring the miles
That never should have been
From the moment
Joined together
Eternity now alive
Sharing love and caring
Now that fate has set the day
Forever remember
Our love has found
A joyous entry
In the book of forever more
Happy ending
‘Round the corner
Love and hope in store
Love forever
Safe and warm now
Home, let’s close the door
On turmoil and strife
Tomorrow in the past
Husband and Wife
One true love
To fill our lives
‘Til eternity and a day
Holding fast
The hours will pass
Fate has set the day

10/22/18

The roads not taken
And the roads we missed
The turns mistaken
That led us to persist

The happiness remembered
With each passing day
The memories dismembered
Trying to find the way

And longing for the past
Reveals the dusty road
That once had been and we thought would ever last
But time, it seems, became too heavy a load

And the empty days that still go on
The loneliness that weighs so heavily
Can’t bring back the days now gone
Nor answer my tearful plea

The years ahead look empty now
With no roads to travel and nothing to see
The finite seconds that disallow
And only love lasts ‘til eternity

The yellow light of dawn
Burning through the trees
Awakening the day